Realistically, when do you think you can retire?

You built millions in equity in 6-7 years? You sound extremely leveraged. Are we talking millions in equity and millions in debt? Net worth is what matters.

 

My net worth is about 3-4 mil give or take. My biggest assets are 4 companies that I bought 30% of at 1.5 mil value and have tripled their profits and value since and I probably wouldn't sell for anything under 7-8 mil right now.
Minimal property value i guess. Under 300k, 150 in two properties.
I also invested in a pretty risky European bank ownership that ended up selling for 5 times my value months ago and that equity is over 250k.
It sounds crazy to even write this while I'm sitting on my couch in dirty clothes and cookie crumbs all over me lol.

 

I guess I should also add I kind of started at 25. That's when i bought my first rental. But didn't ramp it up till I hit 28-30

 

2 years, ill be 60. Wife's 8 yrs. Younger so ill be on her insurance fir 5 years till 65.
At least thats the plan.

 

Probably stonks (ill have much more money at 62 vs 50)

 

My dad is military and has military retirement, SS, and will have a civil service pension. So he triples dips and no one seems to care about that LOL.

It's not true it can't be lost or reduced. All I have to say is Enron.
Even state governments can be fools with the pension funds (look at IL). It would be highly unlikely for a state pension to be reduced or stop but it can happen. Which is why if you can take your pension in a lump sum and invest it, do it. The only time you hav control is when the account has your name on it. That's it.
Private pensions experience problems all the time. That rug can get pulled out from under you.

I won't ever work someplace long enough to get one, which is why I don't see them as a benefit. Work 20-30-40 years in the same place? Yeah shoot me.

 

I can always make money or cut back. I could work my whole life and build a net worth over $10 Mil by 65 but... I don't need $10 Mil and it's not worth the sacrifice to work doing something I dislike to do it. And it's not so much I dislike my job, I dislike working for other people and I dislike office work.

My lifestyle is nice but not super lavish. I just got my home paid off finally so that expense is gone. House payment goes into investments now. I could say post-tax we live on $36k a year and thats really comfy for us. We don't require much, which was part of the plan. Live minimally and invest like crazy so at least we can work doing what we want and just let our retirement sit and grow for 20-30 years and be sitting and growing without having to contribute.

I resonate with the long term plan. I don't want to make an uncalculated decision. I want to have thought it through and understand how any changes impact the long term goals.

I just fantasized Thursday night of walking away. I bartend and serve part time (and I make more an hour than I do at my full time gig) and I could just pick up more shifts there, start working as an intern in the brewery where I work some days, and then have time to do my home brew projects and maybe in a couple years be a brewer. Then in 10 years open my own place.

I could do it and be perfectly fine financially. My husband has the healthcare benefits and 401k access. We could still max that out yearly plus live even if I took a slight pay cut, but in all honesty if I served 30-40 hours a week I wouldn't take a pay cut. Just a benefit cut.

 

Here is what I am talking about:

The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) is a formula that can reduce the size of your Social Security retirement benefit if you receive a pension from a job in which you did not pay Social Security taxes. Such a “non-covered” pension might have been earned, for instance, by work for a state or local government agency that does not participate in FICA payroll-tax withholding.

If you collect such a pension, the WEP could reduce your Social Security benefit by up to half of the amount of your pension. (By law, it cannot eliminate your benefit entirely; Social Security sets maximums on the dollar amount, as detailed in its WEP Chart.) About 1.9 million people, or 3 percent of Social Security beneficiaries, are affected by the provision, according to a February 2020 report by the Congressional Research Service.

Congress approved the Windfall Elimination Provision in 1983 as part of a larger package of Social Security reforms (including an increase in the full retirement age). The intent was to remove an unintended advantage for workers who collect non-covered pensions (typically from government employment) but also did some "covered" work in jobs that paid into Social Security.

Because relatively little of their lifetime income was reflected in their Social Security earnings records, these workers benefited from Social Security’s progressive formula for figuring retirement payments, which is weighted in favor of low-wage workers. In other words, someone who collected a healthy government salary for decades received the same advantage in Social Security calculations as did a longtime low-income worker.

The WEP eliminates this advantage by tweaking the formula for people also receiving non-covered pensions in a way that reduces their Social Security retirement benefits.

I don't know how other states do their pensions, but CA guarantees its payout by law regardless of the state of the fund. In that sense it's far more secure than my wife's investment based retirement. We can potentially make more with hers because we control the investments and risk factor, but we can also lose money because of that. Our investment portfolio is fairly low risk. As we are quickly approaching retirement, we will shift that risk factor further down. We shifted all our work-related investment to hers because of the employer matching and control we have over investment choices. We also have money I inherited in another portfolio. We always planned to retire in So Cal, but have decided we would like a change, so we'll be off to another state. The upside is many states have a far lower cost of living than CA.

 

20 months. I’ll be 57. Wife already there. No debt. Diverse investments. Cash flow looks good.

Plan to travel with wife and generally treat every day like Saturday for a couple years. Then get a casual job for something to do.

 

Yes. The state has to decide to make their employees a non SS taxed position. You lose SS quarters because you arent paying SS taxes.

While it can be unlikely, a state can go bankrupt and be unable to fulfill its pension promises. New legislation can pass to limit, reduce, or retract benefits.

Just because the law says X now doesn’t mean it can’t change. IL is going to have to change its state constitution on pensions or its going bankrupt.

I assume the worst, that way I can only be pleasantly surprised.

 

In 10 years (age 50) or less. But my form of retirement is different. I’d be involved in our business even though we don’t have to be physically there.

 

The influx from California (mostly) and other states to Arizona has changed it drastically—economically, socially and politically. It has been colonized.

 

True. Been in AZ since ‘84. Never before have I seen the volume of people or witnessed the level of change you point out. Are we getting the best of CA? I’m unsure.

 

Guess This pertains to me. Purchased a home in Paradise Valley only to live in during the winter months. But it is considered our retirement property and got it for a smoking deal. And no, I don’t play golf.

 

I'm on the body bag retirement plan.

 

about 8 years after i die i can retire...

 

Nothings impossible this day and age but there would be significant court challenges to any retroactive reduction of retirement benefits on the books at the time of hire.

 

Found out 100k of my investment has to be now put under capital gains which was a grey area and I thought I could get away with. Add another year to my retirement.
The amount of tax we pay is out right insane here in NS

 

2875 days. But who is counting? Lol

 

2681 days. Still counting.